Would Ryne Sandberg even want to talk with the Miami Marlins?

Brad Ausmus reportedly isn't interested in even talking with the Miami Marlins about their vacant managing job, which seems foolish to me.

What about Ryne Sandberg, also believed to be high on their list?

Well, the Hall of Fame second baseman was recently promoted to third-base coach for the Phillies, who have a World Series-winning manager in Charlie Manuel.

Ah, but Manuel also happens to be entering the final year of his contract as he prepares for his 69th birthday shortly after New Year's.

Under Manuel, the Phillies reached consecutive World Series in 2008-09 for the only time in their history, but since then they have lost three of their last four postseason series (including the '09 World Series against the Yankees) and failed to make the playoffs this year for the first time since 2006, Manuel's second year.

Phillies General Manager Ruben Amaro made it clear that Sandberg, who spent the last two years managing the Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs for the organization, has been given no assurances about automatic succession.

However, a Sandberg associate told me it looks good for the 53-year-old to eventually replace Manuel in the manager's seat.

"Moving to the Phillies," the associate said, "appears to be the last [part] of his transition."

In other words, as much as Sandberg yearns to manage in the majors, it could take quite a bit of convincing to get him to leave the Phillies, his original organization before they foolishly traded him away (along with Larry Bowa) for shortstop Ivan DeJesus in January 1982.

Sandberg had just 13 games in a Phillies uniform before they sent him off to a Hall of Fame career at Wrigley Field. The idea of bringing his career full circle might be too much for the Marlins to overcome, even before getting to the salary part.

Plus, there's no guarantee the Phillies would even grant permission for one of their division rivals to speak with Sandberg, whom they clearly value in a way the Cubs never did.